Jak Flak will be organizing the annual Memoir'44 tournament at Prezcon (boardgame tournament) on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 9AM at the Double Tree Hotel in Charlottesville, VA. That's about a 3.5 hour drive from Washington, DC and MD suburbs, 2 from Richmond, VA, and 5 hours from Raleigh/Durham, NC.

TBivens and I are looking forward to that, and would like to see other experienced players show up to help prevent Jak Flak from getting his third 1st place plaque.

I think Jak Flak threatened to unleash Air Rules on us, so if you're interested, maybe refresh yourself with a f2f game from the Air Pack. If you don't have it, you can download rules, and try one of jdrommel's scenarios like Defense of Meiktila, which is unclassified. Here, the Allies start with both Air Sorties, so you should be fine just using tokens or cut-outs for the Air Sorties. They are discarded after play (and shuffled in the deck after TFH, which may not even happen). Likewise, Counter-attack at Arras when using optional Air Rules, each side starts with an Air Sortie.

Last year we did Eastern Front (e.g. Suomussalmi, Battle of Warsaw, etc.). Also, we usually play 2 matches (2 scenarios x both sides) to qualify for the semi-finals.

We finally got around to Defense of Meiktila. As Allies I brought my plane in early and strafed for 7 hits/11 dice, killing 3 inf units! I used 2nd Air Sortie and Air Power to keep it going.
>When I was Axis, the Allies brought their plane in on Round 7, but Round 8, Their Finest Hour with 3 stars and 1 infantry changed the game in the Allies favor! He used his 2nd Air Sortie to avoid an Air Check. After the Shuffle I drew Air Sortie one turn and Air Power the next, but didn't want to Kamikazee for 1 more medal when I thought I might get 2 for the win. Allies strafed for 7 hits/12 dice including 2 kills on 2 lone-figure infantry units by plane on Round 10 to win.

If this had been a tournament match where medal count on the losing side mattered for advancement, I'd have gone Kamikazee for another medal. (My Axis opponent, to simulate it, didn't leave the airfield medal to shoot my artillery w/3 dice on his last turn.)

I heard today that Jak Flak said we'd be playing Audie Murphy scenarios for the tournament. And NO Air Rules.

I can't disagree with that since Air Pack is out of print, and these scenarios are close to Basic Game.

Mignano Monte Lungo is available in the Online game since December. My friend has been posting Alpha Yellow in his SFTF/Expert space, also in the Online game.

Although I'm glad this will be easier for newbies, I'm just not good at either of these two scenario. I have played Quarry of Cleury, and Counter-attack at Holtzwihr, though I wasn't impressed. The other scenarios have fordable streams and smoke screen rules. I don't have it but I'm told in campaign book 1 smoke lasts 2 of your turns and 1 of your opponent's, while campaign book 2, they last 2 of your oppponent's turns.

Once we heard it wouldn't be scenarios with Air Rules, but instead Audie Murphy we quickly practiced the first 4 A.M. scenarios (with campaign rules for variety). Three of those deal with mines, rivers (fordable or rafts & pontoons), and some smoke.

First qualifying round scenario was Counter-attack at Mortain (Not Audie Murphy). People with sets were pitted against people without, which gave all the experienced players a chance to advance. (Jak Flak knocked me out last year.) I hadn't done very well as Allies in the past, but I pulled off a 4-1 win, since Germans were out of Lefts. He almost got shut out, but his last play was Counter-attack of my BEL where he rolled a miss and 2 flags on my lone-fig inf in the forest before he TG and continued to the medal site. Barrage finished off the guy I wounded the previous turn who couldn't retreat.

There were 14+ people playing the first round, but we didn't have an even number for the 2nd qualifying round, perhaps because we had 4 people who won both sides (which counts as 2 wins under his system). That likely discouraged some players who were 0-2 and 1-1.

Second qualifying round scenario was Mignano Monte Lungo (a scenario I'm dreadful at - I was 2/7 as Germans, 4/10 as Allies). TBivens had a bye, but I played a newbie, who I had to teach the rules. After handedly winning the first side (he sat tight in German defense, not shooting some turns), I was told I had to win both sides to continue, so there must have been someone else who was 4W-0L, or 3-1 with a strong record. My newbie put on a good show in his second game as Allies, but lack of experience meant he rolled fewer dice than he could have, and he left both lone-fig tank units in the clear for me to come down the hills to shoot, once Air Power missed one.

Semi-final round was Quarry of Cleury (thank goodness it wasn't Alpha Yellow, where I suck), and I was pitted against my face-to-face opponent, TBivens, while Jak Flak went up against his friend. (I presume it was 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd). We'd played this scenario from both sides last May, but it felt new. The Allies have a Required Medal, which puts them at a disadvantage. I won the first side as Axis 6-3, after losing both snipers, by advancing up his hill to kill 2 lone-fig inf on the last turn. He said he was short on Centers but he was able to attack every turn.

Rematch, he followed my lead, advancing his sniper and inf on his Right. I got careless going after his snipers, and ended up trading a tank for one before I could play Armor Assault, and trading another tank for the second before I played my 2nd Armor Assault. He'd pulled back a lone-fig inf to the baseline-C and his baseline-L. I moved my artillery up 1 earlier, but didn't move it into range since I was out of Centers. We had a break in the action, where we didn't shoot each other, and I moved inf forward. I'd had Air Power for a while, but forgot that I didn't have to win both sides, I only needed 3 medals to tie and more figures killed as the tie-breaker! So instead of playing it for an easy kill, I moved some inf from R to C, figuring I'd have to go for the Required Medal sooner or later. I forget whether my lead inf on the hill was 3-fig or 4-fig, but he killed it on 2d+2d for the win, 6-2.

Final scenario was Counter-attack at Holtzwihr, which has Camouflage. We'd played that once as a variant with Winter Combat cards to help us learn camouflage (which is one of the cards). TBivens squared off against Jak Flak in the Final as they had last year. Tbivens won the first game as Axis, then as Allies was dealt several center cards, so came out of the woods to tear up the Germans, who were short on Centers, winning that side, too.

TBivens, Jak Flak, and I now have 2-first place plaques each at Prezcon for Memoir'44.

I tried posting a version of Quarry of Cleury for the Online game. It's a 5 medal game with a Required medal for the Allies. (Axis need 5 kills; Allies need at least 4 kills plus the temporary medal.) In order to make it work and have the same medal count for both sides, it becomes an 8-point game, where the the medal site counts as 4, and the Axis start with 3 permanent medals. People didn't get it (READ THE RULES!). I'll likely post it again for Memoir'44 enthusiasts with a big #4 next to the medal.

Prezcon is coming around again the last week of February in 2014! Over 200 people have pre-registered this year to play games all week through Sunday March 2nd. It's $80 for the week, $30 for one day pass.

Memoir '44 Tournament will be held Saturday March 1st at 9 AM until finished. It's at the Double Tree in Charlottesville, VA, off Rt 29. If you're going to cross Virginia to get there, be on time, or come a night before. Showing up an hour late is a no-go.

It's being GM'd by Steve (Jak Flak) Lollis again. You might see him online playing solo games, but he said he doesn't check forums or his DOW mailbox. You can ask him a question while he's playing Johnny, or you can send it to me and I'll pass it on.

I've sent him my suggestions for opening round (Base set-compatible) scenarios, but so far he's not telling.

The opening qualifying round was First Assault Wave. As Allies I was able to clear my Left and tie at 3. I had more trouble going Center, and couldn't get the last hit to kill and Take Ground into town with my tank, so grabbed Left town as my 5th and headed to D-3 with other units. Axis had a 1d shot to kill lone-fig tank & win, but rolled a flag, so I walked in for my 6th.
>>>Rematch. I prevailed as Axis, though I lost my Left artillery to Barrage.

The 2nd qualifying round was Sword Beach. As Allies I went up the Left. He came out of forest but my rolls retreated him back (2 flags vs tank). That was fine, since I drew and played Barrage which scored a kill on his full armor in town. I then retreated his infantry to the same town, and Armor Assault killed it and Took Ground for the win.
>>>Rematch: Allies came up the Center, and got 2 hits on 4 dice to kill artillery. They kept going but I fought them off, with a Firefight-kill, then brought my tank into the Center to kill his lone-fig tank for the win.

I was 4-0, one was 3-1, and two were 2-2 going into the semi-finals, and one guy who was a qualifier did not continue. Though Jak Flak (Steve) was GM and chose the scenarios, he didn't qualify for the semi-final this year.

Semi-Final was Gold Beach. As Allies I did my best to go up the Left. He retreated his lone-fig infantry, so I couldn't Ambush it, but I would soon Ambush-kill his 2-fig infantry. My TFH(2inf,arm,star) allowed me to continue on Left as well as advance Right and set up for Firefight, but got no kills for either. Axis fought back for his 2nd kill, but his BEL (which vacated sandbag-hill medal) scored 0/4! My tank got to the back row for a kill and another by Armor Overrun, clearing the Left. I took the Left medal town, then retreated him out of R-medal hill to Take Ground for the win.
>>>Rematch: Allies just couldn't get it going, rolling 7 hits on 17 dice, so he took Left medal site for consolation. For me: On to the Finals!

Final was Pointe-du-Hoc vs Luddite. I went up the cliffs in Center and Left. I tried to set up for maximum Firefight, but Axis didn't oblige me. At 2-1, I had two lone-fig infantry units in front of me, but could only order 1, and 2 flags scored a kill. Axis got a respectable 2nd kill, and my just-drawn Close Assault finished it.
>>>Rematch. As Axis I needed at least 2 medals and figure advantage to win. I joked that he would draw all Rights, and he drew 4 in his starting hand, playing 1 to discard as his lead! I led with Barrage for 2 hits, so he quickly got that guy out of artillery range. I followed up with General Advance to go down the Cliffs on Left, put 3 on hills in Center, with 1 just behind. He got 3 hits, but rolled 2 flags on my infantry on the beach to put it back up the cliffs. My 3rd play was Direct From HQ, which scored 2 kills, so I felt I had a good chance. His 4th play was Air Power at those 4 infantry lined up on the hill for 5 hits, but rolled 2 flags on the lone-fig infantry! I got my 3rd kill shooting down the cliffs, which won me the tournament!
We kept playing: Allies used BEL to kill my lone-fig infantry and take the forest medal. I tried killing it with artillery but ran out of Lefts. He got the best TFH roll I'd seen lately (4inf & 2star to order all 6 units!) but only scored 2 hits/7 dice. I used Move Out! to kill a full Ranger down the cliffs.

I went 8-0 today! This is my 3rd championship plaque for Memoir'44 at Prezcon! Jak Flak and TBivens had 2 each, though the latter was unable to attend this year.